Member Of Gov’t / Deputy SG Of the CPDM, Gregoire Owona, To Meet Mgr Samuel Kleda And Other Bishops Opposed To Biya’s Candidature.

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Says he will not be out to convince them, but rather to explain certain things to them

The Minister of Labour and Social Security, Gregoire Owona, who is also the Deputy Secretary General of the Central Committee the ruling CPDM, has come out against the attacks on Bishops. After a social media outing to call against the attack on Bishops, Minister Gregoire Owona, who was guest of the weekly programme, “LA VERITE EN FACE’ over Equinoxe TV in Douala in the evening of Sunday, January 5, 2025, repeated his appeal against the attacks on Catholic Bishops. “They are our Bishops”, he asserted.

Minister Owona said to him personally, he has no problem with what Archbishop Samuel Kleda and a number of other Bishops have said against the candidature of President Paul Biya. “There is freedom of expression in Cameroon”, the minister added.

“I Was Shocked” 

However Minister Owona said there was one thing that shocked him with the declarations of the Bishops. “I was shocked with the acerbic language in the declarations; the anger manifested in the declarations. When a Man – of – God says he will prefer a devil to be the President of Cameroon than Mr Biya, it is terrible”, Gregoire Owona remarked. He however disclosed that he will meet the Bishops, and have a discussion with them. “I am a Catholic Christian. I know all the Bishops, including those that made the declarations against the candidature of President Biya. I will meet with Archbishop Kleda and the other Bishops.  I will not be out to try to convince them, but rather to explain a number of things to them”, Minister Owona claimed.  He gave no hint on what he wants to explain to the outspoken Bishops.

“I Don’t Want To Be Wicked, If Not – -“

Meanwhile, one of Equinoxe journalists reminded Minister Gregoire Owona, that one of the major issues that the Bishops raised in their opposition to the candidature of President Biya at the 2025 presidential election, is his much advanced age that has weight down heavily on the President’s physique. Gregoire Owona in reaction said: “I don’t want to be wicked, if not I would have asked the Bishops about the Pope. Does the Pope (Francis) who is head of the Roman Catholic Church, not move on wheel chair?  A President leads with his head and not with his legs, and so as far as the person remains sound in the head, I don’t see any problem”, Minister Owona argued.

Minister Owona said he did not want to be wicked, but he still ended saying what he wanted to say about the Pope’s mobility problem. That Pope Francis moves on wheel chair. Politicians!

But Minister Owona’s tacit comparison of the situation of Pope Francis to that of President Biya, cannot hold water. Once a Cardinal becomes a Pope, it is for life. Everybody, including even non –Catholic Christians, knows that. But the President of Cameroon, according to the current Constitution, is in principle elected for a seven mandate, and so there is no rational argument as to why the person should cling to power or still want to run for the Presidency, if he comes to the end of a seven year mandate, and it happens that he is in a much advanced age, and he also has mobility problem because of his age.

Meanwhile, it should be noted that Minister Gregoire Owona in his first outing against the declaration of the Bishops, who are against the candidature of President Biya for the 2025 presidential election, accused the Bishops of involvement in politics. Then a few days later, the same Minister Owona came out to talk against the attacks on Bishops, which he definitely knew were being carried out by some members of their ruling CPDM party and Government, or by their hired agents. Politicians!